This weekend’s post will catch up on a few missed layoff announcements and give a review of some of this past week’s economic events. Maybe an outrage may find its way into the posting as well.

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If you have any unemployment related subjects that you would like to discuss, please post them in the comments area or send me an note at mike@layofflist.org and I’ll make sure they are responded to. Also, send a note if you have any questions about the unemployment section of the stimulus bill or if you know of any pending layoff announcements that I may have missed.

Thanks, Mike………

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Mike: My thought of the day. Would it be more beneficial to you and your family to get an $13 a week or $7000 all at once?Read on for the details.……..

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Mike: As the below story shows, it looks like the Irish are tired of banks getting billions in bailouts while the citizenry gets layoff notices and tougher times. In the US, banks are still being allowed to do as they please regardless of the antics of congress. Although Obama proposed limiting bank CEO salaries to $500,000, there are so many loopholes in the proposal that it is toothless in limiting compensation. It may not take much more bank and government ineptitude to push the American public to the streets to demand accountability and fairness. After all, it’s our money that fills the coffers of both banks and government, so we should take an active role in how that money is allotted. Right now that money is not going to where it is needed most, unless of course you think an extra $13 a week in your paycheck or $25 a week in your unemployment check is going to turn things around. I think of it this way ( just rough estimates); there are approximately 100,000,000 households in the US and if the government gave the people a $700 billion dollar bailout, like they did the banks, the government could send each household $7000. Now I don’t know about you, but having an extra $7000 in my pocket is going to help me much more than $13 a week. I again urge us all to contact our congressional representatives (although they represent banks more effectively than the public at large) and demand accountability, transparency and justice in doling out your billions in bailout funds. Ask them why you are getting only $13 a week instead of $7000 up front. Congressional contact info at Congress.org

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Go Irish!

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* * DUBLIN (Reuters) – Nearly 100,000 people marched through Dublin on Saturday to protest at government cutbacks in the face of a deepening recession and bailouts for the banks.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Brian Cowen is under pressure from Brussels and ratings agencies to squeeze a ballooning budget deficit, but plans to introduce a pension levy on public sector workers and freeze their pay has hammered his approval ratings and those of his party to record lows.

* The meandering Internet portal is rolling out Rich Ads in Search, a product to help advertisers get noticed before the lucrative search engine audience. The ads are called “rich” because we’re talking about rich media here. Sponsors will be able to insert graphical, interactive, and even video ads into Yahoo!’s query result pages.

Unfortunately, they’re not called “rich” because they will make Yahoo! shareholders rich.

The stimulus bill also increases weekly unemployment benefits by $25 through 2009. The amount of your unemployment benefits continues to vary based on your previous income and your state, but everyone will receive an extra $25 per week. This increase is automatic — people who are receiving benefits won’t need to take any special steps to boost their benefits. But it may take a few weeks for the state unemployment offices to reprogram their software programs and add the extra money, says Rich Hobbie, executive director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

Plus, people collecting unemployment benefits get a tax break. Unemployment benefits are usually subject to federal income tax. But people receiving unemployment benefits in 2009 will be able to exclude the first $2,400. Any benefits you receive beyond that in 2009 will be subject to federal income tax.

* WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s task force on the auto industry met for the first time Friday to start reviewing requests from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC for $7 billion in loans before the end of March and up to $21.6 billion over the next couple of years.

The White House said that the panel’s leaders — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers — “emphasized the urgency of the issues affecting the American auto industry and the need for fundamental restructuring.”

* While the tech industry has announced thousands of layoffs in recent months, as the global recession spread through Silicon Valley, some local companies are also starting to trim employee pay and benefits to reduce costs.

The moves, once considered unusual, are a way to “share the pain” that might save some jobs, according to executives and economists, although the cuts don’t sit well with some workers.

* Kaiser will freeze the pay of top executives, hold staffing at 2008 levels, slash travel budgets by at least 25 percent, reduce the use of consultants and temporary employees, cut an unspecified number of jobs and hold capital spending to 2008 levels, giving priority to “projects needed to improve care, maintain our facilities, and position us for future growth.”

Stroh, 11123 W. Burleigh St., plans to lay off 60 workers, according to a notice filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The layoffs, which will be permanent, are expected to occur by April 27.

Construction Forms plans to cut 68 jobs, or about 25 percent of its work force, at its facility. However, the company indicated that the number and timing of the layoffs would be determined by business conditions over the next two months.

* California electronics firm that announced layoffs at its Rapid City plant last month has now announced it will close the plant.

On Thursday morning, Sanmina-SCI told the 275 employees of its Rapid City facility that the plant, located at 222 Disk Drive, will close by the end of June. Some workers will remain until the plant closes while others will depart once jobs they were working on are finished.

* Its blast furnaces cold since October, ArcelorMittal’s Cleveland facility could be at least three to six months away from producing steel again, the plant’s general manager said today.

A third of the plant’s salaried employees soon will receive temporary assignments at ArcelorMittal plants in other states, the company said. Separately, a union official said perhaps hundreds more hourly workers could be laid off within a month.

* VANSCOY, Sask. — Roughly 300 workers at the potash mine in Vanscoy, Sask. are being laid off next month for four weeks because their employer is choked with product and running out of warehouse space.

* Managers of the Fayetteville-based location contacted local police Friday morning to request extra patrols. The call was prompted by the impending layoff announcement, which affected both production and salaried employees.

Marshalltown President Joe Carter wouldn’t say how many workforce members were affected, but that the layoffs were permanent.

* The British bank announced the shuttering of EquiFirst on Tuesday, citing “market conditions.” According to the filing, 275 employees will be let go on April 18, with the remaining 273 being laid off between April 20 and Dec. 31. After June 13, there will be 117 employees remaining at the unit.

* When Faegre & Benson — the law firm employing more Minnesota lawyers than any other — announced that it was letting 29 of those lawyers go, the message was clear: Nobody is untouchable in an environment that one lawyer called an “economic tsunami.”

At about the same time, other local law firms cut staff and attorneys, including: Merchant & Gould, which eliminated 33 jobs, including seven attorneys; Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, which cut five administrative positions, and Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson, which cut about six jobs, including two lawyers.

As you well know, news media isn’t the only industry feeling the economic burn. FBDC has confirmed that New Media Strategies; the company that employs/has employed heavy hitters and ex-media folk such as Howard Mortman, John Henke and Soren Dayton experienced a round of layoffs on Wednesday.

* Loparex LLC has announced layoffs for more than 50 employees at the company’s 115,000 square-foot Cullman plant, according to a letter sent from Loparex to the City of Cullman which was recently obtained by The Times.

* Facing a global economic downturn and a depressed forest products market, Millar Western announced layoffs and cuts in production affecting employees at two Whitecourt mills last week.

Effective Monday, the Whitecourt sawmill reduced a daily shift from three to two shifts resulting in temporary layoffs affecting 50 people. The Whitecourt pulp mill also reduced production resulting in the permanent termination of 16 positions.

* One company ready to fill positions is Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp., the nation’s largest weapons maker. It has more than 2,300 openings in the region, most involving engineering and information technology.

Mike: I hope you all are having a fine weekend so far. If you have made it to the bottom of this page, you probably found some useful information and you may be ready for a donor pitch 🙂

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